Sound Advice

Occupational hearing loss is the most common work-related injury in the United States. Approximately 22 million U.S. workers exposed to hazardous noise levels at work, and an additional 9 million exposed to ototoxic chemicals.

An estimated $242 million is spent annually on worker’s compensation for hearing loss disability.

NIOSH recommends that all worker exposures to noise should be controlled below a level equivalent to 85 dBA for eight hours to minimize occupational noise induced hearing loss. NIOSH also recommends a 3 dBA exchange rate so that every increase by 3 dBA doubles the amount of the noise and halves the recommended amount of exposure time.

Four million workers go to work each day in damaging noise. Ten million people in the U.S. have a noise-related hearing loss. Twenty-two million workers are exposed to potentially damaging noise each year.

In 2008, approximately 2 million U.S. workers were exposed to noise levels at work that put them at risk of hearing loss.

In 2007, approximately 23,000 cases were reported of occupational hearing loss that was great enough to cause hearing impairment.Reported cases of hearing loss accounted for 14% of occupational illness in 2007.

In 2007, approximately 82% of the cases involving occupational hearing loss were reported among workers in the manufacturing sector.

Over the past few decades, much has been learned about the implementation of hearing loss prevention programs. The eight components of a successful hearing loss prevention program include:

Don’t forget to do your part to promote awareness about Hearing Loss Prevention Safety Month!

World Hearing Day is held on 3 March each year to raise awareness on how to prevent deafness and hearing loss and promote ear and hearing care across the world. Each year, the World Health Organization decides the theme and develops a brochure on the topic based on the best available evidence as well as advocacy materials such as posters, banners, infographics and presentations, among others.

World Hearing Day 2020

Hearing for Life: don’t let hearing loss limit you!

On World Hearing Day 2020, WHO will highlight that timely and effective interventions can ensure that people with hearing loss are able to achieve their full potential. It will draw attention to the options available in this respect.

Key messages for World Hearing Day 2020:

At all life stages, communication and good hearing health connect us to each other, our communities, and the world.

For those who have hearing loss, appropriate and timely interventions can facilitate access to education, employment and communication.

At its headquarters in Geneva, WHO organizes an annual World Hearing Day seminar. In recent years, an increasing number of Member States and other partner agencies have joined World Hearing Day by hosting a range of activities and events in their countries. WHO invites all stakeholders to join this global initiative.

DeWine, Ohio signs law allowing motorcyclists to wear earplugs

Some riders didn’t know that it is currently illegal to use earplugs when they ride

This summer, motorcycle riders will legally be able to use earplugs when they ride in Ohio. The new law goes into effect in 90 days.

Gov. Mike DeWine signed the bill into law Friday that allows for the use of earplugs or earphones for hearing protection. Devices that provide entertainment will still be prohibited.​ Some riders didn’t know that it is currently illegal to use earplugs when they ride. They say they use earplugs to lower the decibel level assaulting their hearing as they ride.​

Noise impact on Motorcycle Riders

Several things contribute to the noise riders have to deal with, including the engine and exhaust systems of the bike. While they are traveling, the sound of the air passing by their ears creates noise as well.​ Those that use earplugs said wearing them helps them hear better than they would without using the devices. They claim to be able to hear low bass and high treble sounds easier.​

dB All Sport™ for Motorcycle Riders

Protect Ear’s dB All Sport™ lets you hear the full range of your recording even at highway speeds.

This ear protector is built for the rider who wants to listen to their digital music player or radio, All Sport™ is the ideal way to take your tunes on the road. All Sport™ is a headset that connects to your digital music player and is specially designed to work in the harsh environment bikers endure. Wind noise, bike rumble, and traffic sounds compound to make listening to radio or music a challenge while riding.

The All Sport™ uses dB Blocker® Technology giving you extremely comfortable isolation from wind noise, bike growl and the quality music sounds of specially tuned dual stereo transducers. The sound reaches the protector through sound tubes that pass over the ear. This over-the-ear design allows for use with either full face or 1/2 shell helmets. It also allows for your All Sport™ to be easily repaired if you damage them. Learn more about the All Sport.

Riders who’ve been using earplugs for years say this bill is long overdue and is appreciated.​ When DeWine was asked if he was interested in pursuing a helmet law next, he told reporters he was not going to talk about that at the current time.​

Source

Your ears deserve attention. After all, hearing is one of your most important senses and if you think about it, hearing connects us to the world

Our ears allow us to stay safe in our environment. Hearing the blast of a horn, loud crash or even the drop of a glass causes us to make choices. What if you missed hearing something important?

What if you missed part of a conversation and when you attempted to fill in the blanks, came up with a totally different meaning that affected a future event or decision? It happens. We hear these stories every day.

We also see people who deny that they have a problem with their hearing. We understand that. If you don’t know what you are missing, it makes perfect sense to believe you are not missing anything.

If your friends and family tell you that the TV Is too loud, if you find yourself asking people to repeat what is said, or if you notice that it is more difficult understanding while dining out, do yourself a favor and get your hearing checked.

Your hearing matters

Of all the five senses, our hearing is perhaps the most precious. If we lose it, we lose contact with the people we love and the world around us. Learn more about hearing.

For players and fans alike, football stadiums can be detrimental to healthy hearing.The roar of a packed football stadium is part of what makes the sport so special. But there’s a downside.

For football fans, a thunderous stadium is part of the experience: There’s no feeling quite like stomping your feet in unison with 100,000 people as hype music booms from loudspeakers, the venue trembling as your team rushes onto the field.

Die-hard football lovers will tell you this experience is like no other. Ball games brim with emotion — euphoria if your team is winning, dread if they’re not — and that emotion is expressed through yelling, clapping, stomping, chanting and singing. It’s compounded by speakers blaring and announcers, well, announcing.

The dangers of noisy environments are often overshadowed by pleasure and cultural significance, an unfortunate fact because attending events like football games is often a driver behind hearing loss.

I’m not here to rain on anyone’s ball game, but take it from the pros: Terry Hanratty, former NFL quarterback and two-time Super Bowl winner with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Reed Doughty, former NFL safety with Washington, both of whom struggle with hearing loss today.

Here, they share their stories.

Hearing loss in football

“I thought I had perfect hearing,” Hanratty tells me. But as it turns out — and evidenced by his wife’s perpetual despair at the TV volume — Hanratty did not.

Hanratty and Doughty both suffer from sensorineural hearing loss, though different in nature. According to Hanratty’s audiologist, Dr. Nancy Datino, his hearing loss “could be due to noise exposure over time … but also could also be a result of a combined degeneration from aging or perhaps nerve damage from the head trauma he experienced as a professional football player.”

Reed Doughty, former NFL safety, getting fitted for hearing aids.

Doughty, on the other hand, was diagnosed with a hereditary type of sensorineural hearing loss at age 6. He has nerve degeneration in his ears, a progressive condition that will continue to worsen over time.

Despite the differences in their conditions, Doughty and Hanratty have much in common: Both players eventually realized that their hearing loss was affecting their day-to-day lives, sought treatment and got hearing aids, and now spend a great deal of time educating the public on the dangers of loud environments and untreated hearing loss.

These may be two of the few former NFL athletes who actively promote hearing health awareness, but they are far from alone in their hearing loss — according to a 2014 study by Loyola University, retired NFL players may be at risk of permanent hearing loss and tinnitus, partly due to head trauma sustained during play. (Head trauma from playing football can also lead to many other kinds of injuries, including chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.)

The defining moment

For both athletes, there was a defining moment that pushed them to finally seek treatment for hearing loss.

Doughty recalls his rookie year with Washington in the team’s meeting room, “My coach had his back to me at the whiteboard, explaining some new defenses we were putting in. I was a 4.0 student in college and I was supposed to be a smart guy, but I kept making mistakes on the field.”

Doughty says he’d ask his coach, “When did you say that? I didn’t hear anyone talk about [the new play].” Doughty’s coach told him to get his hearing checked, so Doughty, years after being diagnosed with hearing loss, finally got hearing aids.

Hanratty’s moment came after his football career had already ended. He’d experienced a ringing in his ears for over a month, which he later found out was tinnitus, and hadn’t really planned to do anything about it until the NFL Retired Players’ Association invited him to get a comprehensive physical exam.

“It’s a really cool thing; this is one of those executive physicals where you get to see about eight different doctors,” Hanratty says. “Yet there was nothing in the physical about hearing.”

The players did get a form, however, on which they could write down anything they particularly wanted to get checked out. Hanratty took this opportunity to get his hearing checked and, as fate would have it, the doctor informed him that he needed hearing aids.

Since then, Hanratty says, the NFL has added hearing checks as part of routine physicals.

The ambiguity of loudness

Part of the problem, Signia audiologist Dr. Eric Branda tells CNET, is that people simply don’t recognize the level of sound they subject themselves to. Most people don’t think twice about sitting in a 100-decibel football stadium for four hours or jamming out at a 120-decibel rock concert.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, normal everyday conversation averages about 60 decibels. Football games and other loud events can easily reach nearly double that level of sound — yet most attendees don’t bother with any sort of ear protection.

The fun factor of football overshadows the danger of loud stadiums. No one is telling sports fans to stop attending games, but hearing professionals and athletes with hearing loss want to create awareness.

Additionally, many people don’t really pay attention to the volume of music playing through their headphones or the volume on their TVs. Other unsuspecting but contributing scenarios that can damage your hearing include taking off in an airplane, going to the movie theater, doing yard work, standing in the subway as subway cars rush past and so much more.

This isn’t to say that you should walk around with earplugs in 24/7, Branda says, but you should be aware of your surroundings and take control when you can, and leave a loud environment or put in earplugs at a concert.

Branda uses a helpful rule of thumb: “It’s probably too loud if I have to shout in order to be heard.”

The stigma of hearing loss

“There’s a stigma with hearing loss,” Doughty says. “With glasses, you can wear them as part of your look and be stylish, but people don’t feel the same way about hearing aids.”

Hearing loss is often discounted as a problem that’s shrugged off with phrases such as “he’s just old” or “she only hears what she wants to hear.” Some people with hearing loss feel like they’re made out to be dumb, so they hide the fact that they have trouble hearing. This is troublesome, because life can depend on the ability to hear — think of sirens, alarms and warning shouts.

The design of hearing aids has evolved in the last few years, from bulky designs that fit over your ear to smaller models that fit in your ear.

“When you talk about hearing aids, people tend to picture grandpa in his armchair in the corner with some sort of contraption on his head,” says Hanratty.

But that’s no longer the case. Hearing aids are now discreet, effective and connected. You can find ones that look more or less like a good pair of earbuds. “There is truly no excuse not to get them if you need them, especially when you know how much they can help your relationships and your career,” says Doughty.

Hanratty concurs: “I walk the streets of Manhattan and I see everyone with something hanging out of their ears. Earbuds, headphones, AirPods, whatever it is … Everyone’s got something in their ears anyway.”

Another way to overcome that stigma is to think of your hearing as an important part of your overall health, just like your heart rate or blood pressure.

Risks of untreated hearing loss

Hanratty puts it into perspective: “If you can’t hear, you start to withdraw from society. You don’t want to go to the movies because you can’t hear it. You don’t want to go to dinner because you can’t hear anything. You don’t want to invite people over because you can’t hear them.”

“It gets frustrating for friends and families to repeat themselves all the time,” Branda says, which can lead to resentment for either party or both, “and it really just creates a difficult situation.”

Hearing loss can also affect performance at work, at school and in sports and recreational activities. Branda says that people with hearing loss might withdraw from society, allow responsibilities to pile up (such as unanswered phone calls and past-due appointments) and even exhibit characteristics of depression.

In these ways, hearing loss is far more obvious to people around you than wearing hearing aids, Branda says.

Perhaps the most frightening risk of untreated hearing loss is dementia. Adults with hearing loss are at a greater risk for dementia, Branda says, and research has found that the rate of cognitive decline in older adults is directly related to the level of hearing loss.

What you can do

As with most health complications, prevention is key. Knowing how loud is too loud is half of the battle, but you can start by studying up on some common sounds and their decibel levels, as well as how long it’s safe to listen to different decibels. The CDC has a handy guide to decibels and common sounds.

For example, the sound of the average hair dryer can reach 85 decibels — a level that can cause hearing loss after two hours of exposure. But there’s no need to worry about your hair dryer, Branda says, because hopefully you aren’t blow-drying your hair for two hours each day.

If you have an Apple Watch, the built-in Noise app can give you some guidance when you find yourself in noisy environments. It’ll ping you when background noise rises above a certain threshold and give you tips, like perhaps you should consider moving farther away from the origin of the sound.

If you know you’re going to be in a loud environment, consider wearing ear protection. The type can vary based on the particular environment and your preferences. Discreet ear plugs might be best for a football game, for example, while protective ear muffs are great for a shooting range and noise-canceling headphones work to drown out the rumble of an airplane.

On top of everyday prevention, be sure to get your hearing checked regularly. According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, healthy individuals aged 18-64 who don’t have noticeable hearing loss or complications should get their hearing checked every three to five years.

Hanratty emphasizes that hearing check-ups are not part of a normal annual physical from your primary care doctor. “When you go get your physical, you get your ears checked, but not your hearing,” Hanratty says. “You need to see a separate doctor — an audiologist — to make sure your hearing is normal and healthy.”

If you’re wondering if you need a hearing test, take this quiz by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.

If you know you’ll be in a loud environment, such as on an airplane, protect your ears with noise-canceling headphones, ear muffs or ear plugs.

How you can help friends and family with hearing loss

If you know people who have difficulty hearing, you can help in a few ways. Try these tips from Branda:

Speak clearly and help them read your lips.

Keep rooms bright so they can see you talking.

Talk slightly slower so they can process the sounds.

Give them a little bit of time to process your sentence before you move onto your next thought.

Have conversations in the same room, don’t yell up the stairs or into different rooms.

Avoid the noisiest areas and minimize distractions.

If it seems like they’re misunderstanding, try rephrasing; a new word might make all the difference.

Millions of workers are exposed to hearing hazards every year, and even though OSHA regulations and NIOSH recommendations in the U.S. specify hearing protection, occupational hearing loss is still the number one reported worker illness in manufacturing*. Moreover, noise-induced hearing loss is permanent and irreversible, but avoidable with the help of proper hearing protection and other measures. Here we will explore some hearing protection devices (HPD) and other steps that can be taken to help protect workers’ hearing in a wide variety of industries.

Earplugs & Custom Hearing Protection

When workers are exposed to loud noise, earplugs can offer low-cost, effective hearing protection. These are soft foam or elastic plugs worn inside the ear canal to help block out hazardous sounds. Earplugs come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes so there are many choices for workers. With the right fit and insertion techniques, earplugs can provide adequate protection for many types of noisy situations.

Disposable foam earplugs are the most widely used type of HPD. The soft foam is rolled into a tightly compressed cylinder then inserted into the ear so that it conforms to the unique shape of ear canal. They are relatively low price per pair and can result in a high noise reduction when worn correctly.

Push-to-Fit earplugs are soft foam tips with a flexible stem where there is no need to roll down the foam tips before inserting into the ears. This works well for employees who have difficulty rolling and inserting disposable foam earplugs and can even be inserted when hands are dirty or when wearing gloves. Though earplugs are the fast easy solution they are not exactly the best product for the environment and everyday usage can be costly in comparison to custom hearing protection.

Reusable earplugs also known as Custom Hearing Protection are washable with flexible, such as the dB Blocker™.

dB Blockers™ are hearing protection products made to fit the individual’s ear exactly, this gives the worker a custom hearing protector (earplug) that they can wear all day long, while receiving “REAL WORLD” (what the wearer actually receives) attenuation. See how easy it is to wear dB Blocker hearing protection. dB Blockers™ custom molded hearing protectors (earplugs) are made from the Skinsoft™ blend of medical grade silicones, which is as soft and flexible as your own skin.

Also, metal detectable earplugs have a stainless-steel bead encased in the earplug. Popular in food manufacturing industries when contamination prevention is critical, this type of HPD is available in a variety of comfortable earplug styles to meet most wearer preferences

and help address a variety of environmental noise hazards. Metal Detectible dB Blocker™ hearing protector devices are for industries such as food and pharmaceutical manufacturing. Our Metal Detectible dB Blockers™ have been tested by a wide range of metal detection equipment. Learn More

Earmuffs

One of the easiest hearing protectors to wear, earmuffs can quickly be adjusted to provide a snug and reliable fit for a wide range of ear and head sizes. Since earmuffs can be less complicated to put on correctly, most users can intuitively learn to wear them. Additionally, earmuffs allow workers to easily put their hearing protection on and take it off throughout the day as needed.

Earmuffs can be reused time and again, and, if properly cleaned, maintained, and stored, can typically be worn up to two or three years. Also, given the size, they are harder to lose than other hearing protectors. This means you may not need to replace earmuffs as often as other types of hearing protectors. Additionally, the easier and more comfortable personal protection equipment is, the more likely employees may be to wear it. Moreover, because earmuffs are can be easier to see from a distance, it may also be easy to monitor that workers are wearing hearing protection.

Advanced Hearing Protection

Advanced Hearing Protection Solutions can help keep the workers’ hearing protected while enabling them to clearly communicate and hear their surroundings. There are two categories of Advanced HPDs: Protective Hearing Solutions and Protective Communication Solutions.

Protective Hearing Solutions allow you to hear normally when it’s quiet and provide protection when it’s loud. This type of HPD can be effective when:

Sometimes, workers may also need hearing protection that can allow them to clearly communicate in noise.

These Protective Communication Solutions can help when:

People are wearing hearing protection and carrying two-way radios

People are trying to talk on their mobile phone in noise

People need to shout into each other’s ears to communicate

Hearing Conservation Program

Employers in the U.S. are required to provide a “continuing, effective hearing conservation program” for employees who are exposed to hazardous noise, according to U.S. OSHA. You can advance your hearing conservation program with a customized and comprehensive approach to providing hearing protection. Implementing a solution that really makes a difference begins with an understanding of the hazards, the regulations, and the factors that impact hearing protection. Your program should also take into account the seven elements of hearing conservation.

Measure

Accurate measurement of employee exposure to hazardous noise is essential. Conducting noise surveys using appropriate detection instruments can help you identify who is at risk, determine who needs to be included in your program, and select the proper controls and protective equipment to help reduce the risks.

Control

Certain operations and machinery create high noise levels. But do they have to? Equipment and processes can be designed or altered to be quieter, reducing the number of employees in your conservation program.

Protect

Hearing protectors play an important role in hearing conservation. They must be comfortable, fit properly, and provide adequate protection for the environment. Compatibility with other PPE and the workers’ ability to communicate must also be considered. Including individual fit testing of earplugs and earmuffs in your program can help you educate your employees on the importance of hearing protection and validate the Personal Attenuation Rating (PAR) achieved by each worker.

Check

Are your employees showing symptoms of noise-induced hearing loss? It’s important to routinely use standardized measurement procedures to check their hearing to detect and record changes, so you can take steps to prevent permanent hearing loss.

Train

Because noise-induced hearing loss usually happens gradually and the symptoms are not always apparent, it is vital to educate employees on the effects of exposure to loud noise and train them to properly use hearing protection. You may be able to improve the success of your hearing loss prevention efforts by strengthening worker training and motivation programs.

Evaluate

Make sure your hearing conservation program is working with regular program evaluations that include employee feedback, responsibility reviews, and cost analysis. This will help identify trends, highlight potential problem areas, and drive improvement.

Fit Testing

Fit testing can deliver an objective, quantitative measurement of each employee’s hearing protection, so you can help better protect your workforce while also helping employees understand the importance of proper fit.

FITCHECK SOLO™

Developed by NIOSH and distributed by CPE and ProtectEar USA, FitCheck Solo™ is fast, accurate and simple

SIMPLE SOLUTIONS: Training and fit testing takes less than 10 minutes and it can be done right on the line*. Fit Testing devices such as FitCheck Solo™ provides ease-of-use and real-time testing. Learn more.

Hearing Conservation Manager Digital Programs

It might be in a safety manager’s best interest to invest in a digital system, where hearing conservation managers can track for each worker the results of fit testing, the noise exposure levels experienced given a specific work environment and keep track of overall hearing health data over time. This data can help with selecting the appropriate hearing protection based on exposure in a particular work environment and keeping track of what hearing PPE inventory is needed for the work force.

Using a digital system to gather and store information on how PPE is used in the workplace can help promote regular maintenance for certain PPE assets, as well as help improve the hearing program, overall operations, and safety culture. This may lead to enhanced productivity, compliance, and confidence by workers who feel they are properly feel protected.

People like options. When their personal preferences are considered, employees may be more satisfied and more invested in their work. Employees may wear hearing protection more of the time when they are allowed to choose HPDs that are compatible with their work. Selecting the most comfortable HPD from several options may also increase the likelihood that employees will wear them correctly. Through a well-defined hearing conservation program, safety managers, employers, and hearing conservation managers can help ensure workers are wearing the hearing protection that meets their needs.

As we head into a new year, I’m sure you’re thinking about some new year’s resolutions. Is your hearing health part of that? Good hearing health is more than just having your hearing tested… eventually.

#1 Wear hearing protection in noisy environments (concerts, working with machinery or power tools, etc.)

Any noise over 80dB can damage your ears depending on how long you’re exposed to it. The best rule of thumb is if it’s loud, use protection. The foam earplugs you can get from the drug store work great for short-term use. If you are always working in a noisy environment for long periods of time, then you should consider a pair of custom hearing protectors or hearing moulds like the dB Blockers™. dB Blockers™ offer “The Smartest Hearing Protection in the World” especially where interpersonal communication is required. dB Blockers™ are custom fit to each individual wearer for maximum comfort and hearing protection. Learn more:

#2 Have your ear wax removed professionally; no Q-tips!

Q-tips can cause more harm than good; they dry out your ear canals and can push the wax further into your ear. It’s best to have a professional take a look at them or try using natural oil drops at home to help push the wax out naturally.

#3 When using headphones, keep the volume below 60%

Similar to noisy environments, when we wear headphones we should use caution as well. As the sound is being directly streamed into our ear it can easily become too loud and tire out our ears. 60% or less of your volume will keep you hearing clear without causing any damage to your ears.

#4 Get moving

Believe it or not, your ear health is related to your heart health; some would even say “the ear is the window to the heart.” Physical activity decreased the risk of heart disease, thus keeping your ears healthy too!

#5 Quit Smoking

Smoking decreases blood flow. This can disrupt the flow of blood through the vascular system of the ears reducing the oxygen needed for your inner ear to function at its best. For more information check out this blog fromAudicus.

#6 Eat a well-balanced diet

Diet and exercise can do wonders for a variety of different medical conditions, including reducing the risk of hearing loss. Eating foods that are high in Omega 3s, antioxidants, magnesium, vitamin A, vitamin E, zinc, and folate can help protect you from age-related, noise-induced, and sudden hearing loss. Eat your greens and fatty fish!

# 7 Don’t ignore early signs of hearing loss

When you can’t hear, you can’t engage. Hearing loss has been associated with isolation, depression, and even Alzheimers and Dementia. If certain sounds aren’t heard, areas of the brain aren’t activated, and the brain tends to forget those sounds. It’s like the old saying “use it or lose it.” The good news is that hearing aids can help this. Hearing aids allow the brain to hear sounds it’s missing, increasing brain activation, and providing you more confidence in conversation. Catching hearing loss early allows for the best results with hearing aids and rehabilitating your brain.

#8 Have your hearing tested regularly (once a year or every few years is great!).

Even if you’re not concerned now, having a baseline of your normal hearing is always good information to have. Plus, as said above, early intervention can truly make a difference in treating hearing loss. Make a hearing test part of your annual whole health checkup (ears, eyes, teeth… the whole thing!).

Love your ears with these tips for better hearing health so that you’ll hear clearer in 2020.

Watch those ears at yesterdays game

You won’t believe how loud it gets in the Dome!

The Super Dome is always loud and proud. But can all that cheering and screaming be hazardous to your hearing?

“Last year for Rams game we were at 128 decibels!” Says Jamie Pierre with Ochsner. She tells WWL-TV that’s like standing under a fighter plane taking off from an aircraft carrier.

Can being exposed to all that cheering in the Dome really have an impact?

“Your risk to experiencing hearing loss as a spectator is expected to be little less than someone working an eight hour shift at a noisy factory,” Pierre says. So yes, the Dome’s roaring crowds can have effects on your hearing:

“If you do have a hearing loss, then what will is the good hearing that you might have left, or even any hearing you may have, you’re at risk for making that hearing loss worse.”

Pierre cautions fans to take care against damaging their hearing. She says wear ear plugs:

“They’re very small, they’re discreet and they’re very good for you.”

Pierre also emphasizes protecting children’s hearing by covering their ears with earmuffs.

It was 2013 when the decibel level at the Dome came just short of the loudest crowd roar on record.

Laboratory Safety Noise

Millions of workers are exposed to dangerous levels of noise in their workplaces. Over the past 20 years, government agencies have consistently identified noise induced hearing loss as one of the top concerns of workers. Noise in laboratories is a growing concern.

Because of concern about noise in clinical laboratories, accrediting agencies are implementing special emphasis programs on noise reduction in these workplaces. As a result of this concern, the College of American Pathologists added laboratory noise evaluation to their General Checklist for Accreditation.

U.S. Parents Worry Popular Technology Use Is Damaging Their Children’s Hearing But Still Plan to Purchase Tech Gifts This Holiday Season

ASHA Shares “Safe Listening” Advice This Cyber Week

ROCKVILLE, Md. (December 3, 2019) A new national poll of more than 1,100 parents of children under age 18 finds that seven in 10 parents are concerned about their child developing hearing damage from listening to popular technology devices such as music players, tablets, and smartphones—and 86% think their children listen to their devices at volumes that are too loud.

Commissioned by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and conducted by YouGov November 1–5, 2019, the polling also shows that despite concerns, over half of parents plan to purchase a tech-related gift for their child this holiday season.

“With the holiday shopping season in full swing, many parents are purchasing personal technology devices as well as related accessories such as earbuds or headphones for their kids,” said Shari Robertson, PhD, CCC-SLP, ASHA 2019 President. “For us, this is the ideal time to encourage smart shopping habits for parents as well as offer safe listening advice they can impart to kids as they give them these gifts.”